Assembler star wheel clutch



y 31, 1951 L. B. LUCY ASSEMBLER STAR WHEEL CLUTCH Filed June 2, 1945 Z? INVENTOR j X E ATTORNEYJ Patented May 1, 1951 ASSEMBLER STAR WHEEL CLUTCH Lester B. Lucy, Little Rock, Ark, assignor to Mergenthaler Linotype Company, a corporation of New York Application June 2, 1945, Serial No. 597,324

5 Claims.

This invention relates to typographical composing machines of the general organization represented in U. S. Letters Patent to O. Mergenthaler No. 436,532, wherein circulating mattrices are released from a storage magazine in the order in which their characters are to appear in print and then composed in line, the composed line transferred to the face of a slotted mold, the mold filled with molten metal to form a type bar or slug against the matrices which produce the type characters thereon, and the matrices thereafter returned through a' distributing mechanism to the magazine from whence they started.

In these machines, the matrices, as they are 1: released from the magazine, descend by gravity through a channeled raceway and fall onto the upper stretch of an inclined conveyor belt which delivers them, one after another, to a chute or throat whereby they are directed into an assembling elevator. As the matrices enter the assembling elevator, they are stacked side by side in line, under the influence of a rapidly rotating star wheel, against an upstanding finger or line resistant secured to one end of a yielding assembler slide. The star wheel is mounted on a hollow fore-and-aft shaft or sleeve and is rotated thereby through the medium of a power-driven gear and an interposed friction clutch, which latter is maintained under spring tension so that, in case the rotation of the star wheel is abnormally resisted for any reason, it will yield or slip to allow the powerdriven pinion to rotate freely until the obstruction to the rotation of the star wheel is removed.

With the foregoing arrangement, adjustments in the tension of the clutch spring must be made from time to time to increase or decrease the power of the clutch because, if the tension is too little, the clutch will slip and the matrices will not be forced into the assembling elevator in the proper manner. On the other hand, if the tension is too great, the clutch will not slip when the star wheel is abnormally resisted, and thus cause considerable damage to the star wheel or the matrices, or other parts. As a result of recent improvements (see the Packard U. S. Patent No. 2,210,597, granted August 6, 1940), such adjustments have been made from the front of the machine by the manual rotation of the star wheel. However, the attendant operations under certain conditions not only are awkward and require considerable time and effort, but moreover it has been extremely difiicult to maintain a particular adjustment for any reasonable ill single operation and thereafter held indefinitely in its adjusted state irrespective of any resistance that may be presented to the rotation of the star wheel. To this end, the clutch spring is arranged to react against a sustaining nut which is keyed to the rear end of the star wheel shaft and which is adjustable axially thereon by an elongated spindle-like screw extending forwardly through said shaft for easy access and manipulation from the front of the machine. In the preferred embodiment illustrated, the clutch comprises two disk-like members also keyed to the shaft, and the driving gear is interposed between them. When the machine is at rest and an adjustment in the tension of the clutch spring is desired, it is merely necessary to turn the screw in one direction to advance the nut toward the opposing clutch member and increase the pressure of the spring, or to turn the screw in the opposite direction to cause a retreat of the nut and decrease the pressure of the spring. When the machine is operating, the whole assembly rotates as a unit. However, if the rotation of the star wheel is retarded abnormally or arrested completely, the clutch will permit the unit to slip relatively to its driving gear, as usual, but without danger of disturbing the adjusted position of the sustaining nut for the clutch spring.

In the accompanyin drawings, the invention has been shown in preferred form and by way of example and obviously many changes and variations may be made therein which will still be comprised within its spirit, Therefore, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to any specific form or embodiment, except insofar as such limitations are specified in the claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation showing part of the assembling mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the improved star wheel assembly and its driving mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section, on an enlarged scale, taken through the improved star wheel assembly;

Fig. 4 is an end view of Fig. 3 to show details in construction of the adjustable nut for the clutch spring; and

Fig. 5 is a detail cross section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 2 to show the manner in which the friction disks of the clutch as well as the nut are mounted on the star wheel shaft.

The matrices X (Fig. 1) are released from a storage magazine (not shown) and pass downwardly through a channeled raceway or throat A onto the upper stretch of a constantly driven belt A which discharges them one after another in the order-of their release into a throat or chute A leading to the assembler elevator B. Here they are composed in line against an upstanding finger c of a line resistant C under the influence of a rapidly rotating star wheel D which crowds them forwardly against the end of the line and at the same time advances the latter so as to admit the next or following matrix. The star wheel D is secured in the customary way to the front squared-off end portion of a hollow fore-and-aft shaft D journaled in a liner or bushing E mounted in a fixed bracket of the assembler frame. The bushing E is locked in place by a tit screw e; and a collar (1, formed on the shaft and en aging the front end of the bushing, locates the star wheel in cooperative relation with the chute A and entrance to the assembler elevator B. The front face of the bracket 0 serves as the rear side wall of the chute and the usual rectangular cover plate A (Figs. 1 and 2) thereof. The cover plate A is hingedly attached to a subsidiary bracket 0 so that it may be swung downwardly from its normal position (Fig. l), in opposition to a yielding retaining finger a, when access to the chute and star wheel I is desired.

The shaft D (Fig. 3) is driven by a gear D through the medium of a clutch F, said gear being rotatably mounted on a rear extension D of the hollow shaft D and the clutch comprising a pair of friction disks F F keyed to the shaft extension and contacting the opposite side faces of the gear. In the preferred embodiment illustrated, one side of the shaft extension D is flattened and the disks F and F are formed with corresponding D-shaped apertures ;f. (Fig. so that they will fit snugly on the extension and maintain a driving connection therewith. A stop shoulder d formed on the shaft D adjacent the rear end of the bushing E and engaging the disk F determines the axial position of the driving gear D and a compression spring G, arranged behind the disk F is adapted to squeeze the gear between it and the disk F and thus control the driving power of the clutch.

The gear D in turn is driven by the usual power operated mechanism shown in Fig. 2, and which includes the driving pinion H and the two intermediate gears H and H The operation of the parts may be stopped at will by shifting the driving belt H from the active pulley H onto the idler pulley H as shown in Fig. 2.

As thus far described, the parts, their construction and mode of operation are or may be the same as those embodied in commercial linotype machines or as shown in the Packard patent above identified.

To regulate the driving power of the clutch F, means accessible from the front of the machine are employed for increasing or decreasing the tension of the spring G. Such means, according to the present invention, includes a composite sustaining nut I, against which the spring G reacts, and an elongated screw J, extending longitudinally through the shaft D from front to rear and operatively connected with the nut. As best shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the nut I, for reasons of manufacture, is made in two parts, one an outer thimble-like member I mounted on the rear end of the shaft extension D and the other an inner rectangular member I mounted on and engaging a short threaded section 7' at the rear end of the screw J. The outer member I is formed with an enlarged head portion or flange 1- dlrectly opposed to thespring G, and is also serves as the front side wall formed with a D-shaped axial aperture i so that, like the two clutch members F and F it will fit upon the flattened-off rear extension D of the shaft'and rotate positively therewith. The inner member I seats in a corresponding recess 1' milled across the rear face of the member I and the head 7' of the screw seats against the front end of the shaft D Consequently, the screw J, through its threaded engagement with the member I will support the nut I in opposition to the clutch spring G in different axial positions on the shaft extension D Except for a comparatively short bearing section 9' located directly behind the head of the screw J, the elongated shank portion thereof is reduced in size to facilitate the rotation of the screw in the shaft D As shown best in Fig. 2, the head of the screw J is located immediately behind the front cover plate A (before described), and a small circular aperture A formed therein permits ready access to the screw when desired.

With this arrangement, when the operation of the assembling mechanism is stopped and while the shaft D is at rest, it is merely necessary to turn the screw J in one direction or the other toadjust the nut I forwardly or backwardly on the shaft extension D whereby to increase or decrease the tension of the spring G and the driving power of the friction clutch F. Moreover, since the nut I is keyed to the shaft D and the head of the screw J normally is held firmly against the front end of the shaft under the influence of the spring G, the possibility of losing an adjustment during the operation of the mechanism has been reduced to a minimum. As a matter of fact, it has been found as a result of experiment that the star wheel may be held positively against rotation under different settings of the nut I for long periods of time without disturbing the frictional power of the driving clutch. It may also be mentioned that the screw'J and nut I in themselves constitute a separate and distinct adjusting device (i. e. apart from the other members of the shaft assembly) which is of simple construction, cheap to produce and easily applied to outstanding machines.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In or for a typographical composing machine, assembling mechanism including in oombination, a star wheel, a fore and aft hollow rotatable shaft to which the star wheel is secured for rotation therewith, an adjustable clutch for driving the shaft at its rear end, a rotatable spindle extending through the shaft and having a turning head at its front end, the spindle being journalled for free rotation in the shaft independent of the shaft, and means responsive to the rotation of the spindle for regulating the driving power of the clutch.

2. In or for a typographical composing machine, assembling mechanism including in combination, a star wheel, a fore and aft hollow rotatable shaft to which the star wheel is secured for rotation therewith, an adjustable clutch for driving the shaft at its rear end, a rotatable spindle extending through the shaft and having a turning head at its front end, the spindle being free from motion transmitting connection with the shaft, means holding the shaft and the spindle against relative axial movement, and means responsive to the rotation of the spindle for regulating the driving power of the clutch.

3. In or for a typographical composing machine, assembling mechanism including in combination, a star wheel, a fore and aft hollow rotatable shaft to which the star wheel is secured for rotation therewith, an adjustable clutch for driving the shaft at its rear end, a rotatable spindle extending through and mounted in the shaft for rotation therein with respect to the shaft and having a turning head at its front end, a thrust member near the rear end of the spindle, connecting means between the spindle and the thrust member for moving the thrust member along the axis of the spindle upon rotation of the spindle while the thrust member is held against rotation, and means responsive to the movement of the thrust member along the axis of the spindle for regulating the driving power of the clutch.

4. In or for a typographical composing machine, assembling mechanism including in combination, a star wheel, a fore and aft hollow rotatable shaft to which the star wheel is secured for rotation therewith, an adjustable clutch for driving the shaft at its rear end, a rotatable spindle extending through the shaft and having a turning headv at its front end, the spindle being journalled for free rotation in the shaft independent of the shaft, a nut threaded on the rear end of the spindle, and spring means located between the nut and the clutch for transmitting the axial thrust of the nut to the clutch and for varying thereby the driving power of the clutch in accordance with the axial position of the nut.

5. In or for a typographical composing machine, assembling mechanism including in combination, a star wheel, a fore and aft hollow rotatable shaft to which the star wheel is secured for rotation therewith, an adjustable clutch for driving the shaft at its rear end, a rotatable spindle extending through the shaft and mounted therein for rotation with respect thereto, said spindle having a turning head at its front end, a thrust member near the rear end of the spindle, means responsive to the rotation of the spindle for moving the thrust member along the axis of the spindle, the clutch including a drive gear loose on the shaft, and a friction plate between the gear and the thrust member secured to the shaft for rotation therewith and slidable therealong, and a spring between the thrust member and the friction plate transmitting the axial thrust of the thrust member to the friction plate.

LESTER B. LUCY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,179,724 Hutchinson Apr. 18, 1916 1,818,946 Freund Aug. 11, 1931 1,874,250 Decker Aug. 30, 1932 2,210,597 Packard Aug. 6, 1940 

